{"id":189167,"date":"2025-02-03T22:05:19","date_gmt":"2025-02-04T03:05:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/?p=189167"},"modified":"2025-02-03T22:05:22","modified_gmt":"2025-02-04T03:05:22","slug":"random-thoughts-tourney-draws-more","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/2025\/02\/03\/random-thoughts-tourney-draws-more\/","title":{"rendered":"Random Thoughts: tourney draws, more"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

SCOTT TRUXELL\/<\/strong>independent editor<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This week\u2019s installment of Random Thoughts centers around basketball tournament draws, an eye opener, the price of success, and a Super Bowl prediction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tournament draws<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Girls basketball tournament draws were held on Sunday and for the most part, there were no surprises. As I pointed out in Monday\u2019s story about the matchups, sectionals\/districts have a much different look due to the expanded divisions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In my opinion, the biggest difference locally is in what used to be Division IV. For the last handful of years, the former Defiance district wasn\u2019t exactly the strongest. I don\u2019t say that to demean any team or program, but it\u2019s accurate to say Crestview rolled right through it. Now, it\u2019s Division VI and it\u2019s an absolutely loaded district \u2013 loaded to the point that three or four teams are regional-worthy, but only one will actually get there. It should be a real battle for the district title between the likes of Crestview, Columbus Grove, Allen East and Wayne Trace. Don\u2019t sleep on Lincolnview \u2013 the Lancers have the firepower to make things very interesting too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Eye opener<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The big surprise from last weekend \u2013 Shawnee\u2019s 14 point victory over Lima Sr., 80-66. The Indians (16-2) will enter Friday\u2019s game against Van Wert riding a seven game winning streak. During that span, Shawnee has outscored the opposition 64-41.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The price of success<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

At least in the world of college football, success often times means goodbye.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ohio State can now attest to that. After winning the national championship, the Buckeyes have lost three key assistants to higher paying jobs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Defensive coordinator Jim Knowles was the first to go, as he accepted the same job at Penn St. with a hefty raise to $3 million. A rumored rift with Ryan Day and others probably helped grease the skids.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Offensive line coach Justin Frye left for the same job with the Arizona Cardinals, presumably with a raise. Frye took a lot of heat while in Columbus but his patchwork offensive line was a big key in Ohio State\u2019s run to the national title. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now, offensive coordinator Chip Kelly has left Columbus to take the same job with the Las Vegas Raiders and he\u2019s getting the biggest raise of them all. He wasn\u2019t exactly a pauper in Columbus, as Ohio State paid him $2 million. He\u2019s tripling that, $6 million with the Raiders. One can ask how much money does a person need but let\u2019s face it \u2013 most people would start packing their bags if their salary tripled.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So now Ryan Day has three big holes to fill but I\u2019m guessing the Buckeyes will be just fine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hartline<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I have seen\/heard some people clamoring for Brian Hartline to be named Ohio State\u2019s next offensive coordinator and it appears they’ve gotten their wish. As of Monday night, several sources claim Hartline will be named as the team’s new offensive coordinator. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Will he call plays? If so, is he really ready for something like that? Ohio State isn’t exactly a training ground for that. It\u2019s entirely possible Ryan Day will return to the playcalling role. Time will tell, and we should know sooner instead of later. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Prediction<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

You didn\u2019t ask for it, but here it is \u2013 my prediction for Super Bowl 59.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To be blunt, I have no idea what\u2019s going to happen. Even though no team has done it before, I can see the Chiefs winning their third straight Lombardi Trophy, probably with the help of a questionable call or two. I can also see the Eagles getting the win. Like them or not, this is a team that\u2019s playing very good football right now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Without too much thought, I\u2019m going with the Eagles, 28-21.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As always, if you have thoughts or comments on any of the above subjects, feel free to email me at sports@thevwindependent.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

SCOTT TRUXELL\/independent editor This week\u2019s installment of Random Thoughts centers around basketball tournament draws, an eye opener, the price of success, and a Super Bowl prediction. Tournament draws Girls basketball tournament draws were held on Sunday and for the most part, there were no surprises. As I pointed out in Monday\u2019s story about the matchups, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-189167","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sports"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-08-04 19:51:22","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/189167","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=189167"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/189167\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":189180,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/189167\/revisions\/189180"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=189167"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=189167"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=189167"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}